Alpinista still training towards Japan Cup swansong

Tokyo farewell remains a live option for Arc victor.

Sir Mark Prescott’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Alpinista is still on course for the Japan Cup, the Heath House handler has confirmed.

The five-year-old grey earned a sixth consecutive top-flight success in lifting Europe’s biggest prize at ParisLongchamp earlier this month.

Following her hugely popular half-length victory over Vadeni, the Kirsten Rausing-owned mare could be set for a career swansong at Tokyo on November 27.

Prescott is happy with the signs she is showing after her latest Group One triumph in very soft ground.

“It was a wonderful day when she won. It was marvellous,” he said. “Everybody was so kind. It was overwhelming, really. I was very touched by everybody’s kindness.

“She has been fine since – very, very well – and I’ve had no hiccups with her. She has been very well.

“At the moment, we will keep aiming for the Japan Cup, but if anything went amiss, we’d stop.

“If she wanted to go, at the moment, that is the way we are heading. But it is only if she wants to.

Sir Mark Prescott says Alpinista is showing the right signs
Sir Mark Prescott says Alpinista is showing the right signs (Mike Egerton/PA)

“It would be nice if the filly kept going as well as she is, in which case, we have got a decision to make and if she doesn’t keep going, well, that’s that.

“She owes us nothing. She is a marvellous animal.”

Having run up a sequence of top-class wins, thanks to some expert race-planning by her trainer, adding the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and Yorkshire Oaks to last year’s German Group One hat-trick, Alpinista silenced any doubters with a deeply impressive Arc success.

In doing so, she took her record to 10 wins from 15 starts winning over GBP 3.3million in prize money, and her trainer is left wondering if she can improve further still.

“She has just been wonderful,” said Prescott. “It has been a wonderful couple of years with her, really.

“I think, when they get a little bit better every time… what is so hard with horses is they start well and can then become disappointing. That’s so awful for everybody, but when they are this way round, it is a marvellous ride.

“I think I’m right in saying her official rating has gone up every single race she has won. So, we have got to hold our breath for a bit longer.”

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